


fallin' again, I need a pick-me-up

by bumming (always_robin)



Series: 7fics fills [2]
Category: GOT7
Genre: Drunk Kisses, M/M, college markjin guess, is that a spoiler??, that was the prompt, ummm alcoholism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-02
Updated: 2016-03-02
Packaged: 2018-05-29 16:27:36
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,250
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6383899
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/always_robin/pseuds/bumming
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>'It wasn’t a Christmas or New Years without a shitton of alcohol. And Mark knew just where it would come from.' Or, the one in which Jackson persuades Mark to hold a 'private' New Year's gathering of just close friends, and things get a bit out of hand.</p>
            </blockquote>





	fallin' again, I need a pick-me-up

**Author's Note:**

> this is so late i’m so very very sorry OTL all i can say is that i really really hate editing. and yes, this is the (very tangentially-related) prequel to my other markjin fill. mark’s currently 21 (international age), and the rest of the ages go from there. 
> 
> title taken from the neighbourhood's 'greetings from califournia'. pls check the notes below for a more extensive backstory. 
> 
> as always, check out the 7fics tumblr for incredible fics written by amazing people! pls enjoy!!

Winter break had come upon them a week ago, and it being the 27th of December Mark’s friends gathered together for the usual shit talking session at Mark’s place. The four of them alternately seated on Mark’s shitty couch or in a pile of cushions on the floor, they passed around organic kale chips (Jackson’s idea) and apple cider (Jinyoung’s idea, which was far more warmly welcomed).

Mark and Jinyoung had seen plenty of each other these winter holidays, but Jackson and Jaebum had just come back from Hong Kong yesterday and were finally up to meeting up. Discussion had eventually shifted to what they were doing at New Years, after Jackson had heaped effusive raise on his mother’s cooking and how Jackson’s older brother had non-verbally promised a grisly death for Jaebum every time they were in the same room. Jackson brought up the question of where they should be hosting the party this year. Jaebum, Jinyoung and Jackson unanimously turned to look at Mark.

There were three reasons his place always got brought up to host parties:

  1. The view of Hongdae, and very faintly in the distance the New Year’s Eve fireworks from Seoul Times Square.
  2. The space, seeing as none of them had their own places yet. Jaebum and Jackson were dorming together and Jinyoung was sharing a room with his co-worker and hoobae Youngjae.
  3. Alcohol.



It wasn’t a Christmas or New Years without a shitton of alcohol. And Mark knew just where it would come from.

“Mark gets the drinks!” Jackson hollered. Mark sighed, typical. He got a discount at the place where the bar bought drinks in bulk, so he was always asked to bring alcohol to parties and events. It did wonders for his social status, which needed all the help it could get by virtue of his tendency to sit back and let Jinyoung do the networking.

"Go all out okay." Jackson pleaded with him, eyes wide. It was a look that worked often, and had earned him the name ‘Wang Puppy’. Mark, by now immune, rolled his eyes. "This is our first  Christmas together with all of us,“ Jackson said, waving his hand around Mark’s apartment to illustrate the fact. It was true; last year Jackson and Jaebum had been in Hong Kong visiting Jackson’s parents, and the year before Mark had, for the first and last time, worked the holiday season.

(He couldn’t standing staying in the empty and stale dorm room while Jackson was away; the loneliness would have chewed him up and spit him back up un-whole.)

Mark may be a ‘slave to capitalism’ (as Jinyoung puts it), but no amount of money will ever get him to work the Christmas/New Year’s rush ever again. The tips he’d received over those few nights had secured him the lease for his apartment, and he’s thankful for that much through the nights of hell he endured.

His second year, he’d spent alone with Jinyoung. Well, not exactly alone as Jinyoung had decided to drag them off to his Student Council New Years Countdown that had turned into a complete and utter rager, and that had been eye opening. Jinyoung had been in his element then, a complete social butterfly as he navigated the circles before alcohol had them all blurred and incoherent. Jinyoung had gotten absolutely plastered and had draped himself over Mark, unusually touchy. They’d ended up back at Mark’s place and he’d had to drag a shirtless Jinyoung into the bathtub to sober up.

(It was also the first time they’d kissed, pliant and soft from American vodka. They don’t talk about it.)

So this year, Mark had decided to host a decidedly more private New Years get together involving the same amount of alcohol, better company. Jackson preened at being referred to as ‘better company’. It wasn’t hard in comparison to drunk seniors who insisted on plying you with as much soju and beer possible in order to get into your pants. Thank god Mark had been there to haul Jinyoung away.

Jinyoung was all for it, of course. Then again, he was all for any events that involved free alcohol and mooching off Mark’s snacks. He had probably spent more time at Mark’s apartment than his own this year, not helped by the fact that Mark insisted on Jinyoung staying the night, even if his dorm was a twenty minute bus ride away.

He’d met Jinyoung in his first year of year university, his second week of bartending. He’d still had the remnants of a satoori dialect that Mark found absolutely charming, that Jinyoung resented and tried to squash down into a standard Seoul dialect.

(Though he still spoke satoori on a few, ahem, memorable occasions.)

The fact that Jinyoung was willing to sacrifice his holidays at home with his parents to spend it with Mark was… something. It was more than something; it sent a flutter in his stomach, and sometimes Mark thought that was anxiousness, but anxiousness over what?

“Okay,” he said loudly, drawing the attention of the room to him. “I’ll host the party.”

Jackson cheered and threw his arm around Mark’s shoulders to give him a noogie, which Mark expertly dodged with long ease of experience, and Jinyoung gave him a bright smile. Jaebum’s expression, while still triumphant, seemed to ask 'are you really okay with this?’ Mark nodded slightly and cracked a small grin of his own.

Jinyoung cleared his throat beside Mark, shooting a glare at Jackson who settled down and sat down on the couch next to Jaebum. “And we are keeping it low-key this time.”

Jinyoung was, of course, referring to the time they celebrated Mark’s promotion by inviting all their friends over, getting wildly drunk and initiating a karaoke contest that had Mark’s neighbours calling the local police in for noise complaints at one in the morning. Jinyoung is also a dirty hypocrite because Mark distinctly remembers Jinyoung’s wobbly voice harmonizing with Jackson’s while they sung some trot song that had been immensely popular in the 90s, one that even Jaebum had mouthed the words to.

Mark still had the video somewhere on his phone, having had enough sense of mind to recognise prime blackmail material, but if you asked him about it he’d deny it. If you were persistent and got him slightly drunk, he might agree to show you (which was also how Jaebum had almost broke his right arm by falling off Mark’s couch from laughing too hard).

“It’s not gonna be like that this time, right?” Jaebum said, sending a pointed look at Jackson, who predictably waved off his worries with a smile and a loud assurances of peace and quiet.

Mark, dubious as ever, silently hoped that maybe, maybe, Jackson would pull through.

* * *

Jinyoung looked on the verge of a breakdown. He’d had to drag five kids away from Mark’s room, as well as stop a group of first years from vomiting into Mark’s pot plants. Mark sat back and surveyed the chaos of his apartment. This was not what he paid a 5, 000, 000 won deposit on. Jaebum and Jackson disappeared half an hour hour, under the cover of 'protecting Mark’s bedroom’ to excuse making out (or worse) on Mark’s bed. Mark didn’t exactly know what the two were doing with their relationship, only that it was incredibly complex and involved a lot of yelling.

Mark sighed. This was supposed to be a quiet Christmas celebration with his closest friends. How Byun Baekhyun got wind of it and ended up inviting half the bar staff was beyond him (he suspected Jackson, because Jackson somehow knew everyone.) The noise complaints would be through the roof, and if by some miracle of Christmas the police didn’t show up again, the clean up would be horrendous.

“Who invited you?” Jinyoung demanded to a wide-eyed Bambam, who was clearly too young to be at a party with as much alcohol as this. He was almost tearing his hair out with frustration as he realised Bambam was only seventeen, fuck’s sake, when he heard Mark’s voice calling his name.

“Jinyoung,” he called Jinyoung’s name to get his attention. Holding up a cup of cherry flavoured vodka he raised an eyebrow. “You look Iike you need a drink.”

Jinyoung looked too harried to roll his eyes as he pounced on the drink, downing it in one go. Mark watched the motions of Jinyoung’s throat as his Adam’s apple bobbed up and down swallowing the drink.

Mark shared a look with Bambam, one that said ‘don’t fuck shit up, start fights or vomit anywhere but the toilet, and you’re good’. Bambam took that as an out and scurried off to the kitchen, meeting up with Yugyeom, another underage nightmare, and Youngjae, who Bambam had probably pestered into inviting him.

Jinyoung looked up at Mark with eyes that were suddenly ablaze with an inner fire. “You know what Mark? Fuck it.”

Jinyoung immediately grabbed another drink. He obviously wanted to block out the chaos of the party and thought getting dead drunk would do the job. It wasn’t until Jinyoung was starting on his third drink that Mark remembered one unfortunate fact: Jinyoung was a lightweight.

* * *

Mark had a pretty good poker face, if he said so himself. Right now, though… Right now Jinyoung was testing the limits of his patience. A warm weight in Mark’s lap, thighs on either side of Mark’s hips and mouthing along the shell of his ear. Mark used every inch of his self control to stop himself from gripping Jinyoung’s hips and grinding up.

Jinyoung got… touchy when he was drunk. Mark figured that he might as well be the one to take care of Jinyoung, to stop him from giving random guys sloppy blowjobs in the bathroom of every party they went to. As it was, Jinyoung was getting a little too close, not that Mark was complaining.

The one issue was that Jinyoung was drunk, and therefore wouldn’t have any, or only hazy, memories of this the day after. When they kissed, Mark wanted him to remember, wanted to confront these feelings that had been building up between them for the past two years. The knowledge sat heavy in his stomach, a weight that could have sobered him up if he was drunk. as it was, he hadn’t had a sip of the alcohol he’d so generously provided. In his own home. Sober on New Year’s Eve, he sighed. This was his life.

’ _He’s drunk_ ,’ he reminded himself when Jinyoung shifted a breathy little moan fell from his mouth. ’ _He’s drunk and he doesn’t know what he’s doing.’_

Jackson smirked from across the room, where he was chatting with a bunch of Mark’s colleagues (including the infamous Byun Baekhyun), bottle of soju in one hand and his arm around Jaebum’s waist.

Mark knew he’d get no sympathy from Jackson tonight. It was Jackson’s master plan, after all, to get them together after a wild night of slightly drunk sex where they would earnestly confess their feelings the morning after.

It was probably a ploy to distract Jackson from his own complicated love life. Mark remembered when he fancied himself half in love with Jackson Wang, during the time in his life he’d had a hard time adjusting life in a foreign city with its own customs and language. Jackson had been a buoy of sorts for Mark, and it was sort of inevitable that Mark would come to develop feelings for Jackson. Then Jackson met Jaebum and the rest was history. Well, not really history exactly, because as sharp and observant Jaebum was, he was painfully oblivious when it came to his own feelings about Jackson. And Jackson’s feelings for him. Mark, Jinyoung and the maknaes were the (sometimes unwilling) popcorn audience in the Eternal Cycle of Suffering that was watching Jackson and Jaebum 'covertly’ flirt and gaze heatedly at each other when they thought the other wasn’t looking. It was enough to make Mark weary about his own love life. Which, okay, even though Mark worked at a gay bar it wasn’t like he’d met any men that fitted his description of what he wanted (he studiously avoided the voice in his head telling him that everything he wants was currently slumped half atop his body, drooling onto his black Uniqlo t-shirt and making soft snuffling noises.)

Mark wasn’t usually one for self-denial, but. He shook himself out of his thoughts and tried to wake up Jinyoung. It was a near lost cause, and that was sort of pathetic seeing as it wasn’t even midnight yet. Jinyoung wouldn’t be there with Mark to ring in the New year, or conscious at least. Mark decided to play dirty and ghosted his fingers over Jinyoung’s sides, and he woke with an jerk that startled Mark and bruised his jaw.

“Ow,” Mark murmured, hurt in his tone but Jinyoung knew it was all fake. “I let you use me as a pillow and this is the treatment I get?” Jinyoung beamed at him, slowly extricating himself from the tangle of their bodies on the couch and held out a hand to hoist Mark to his feet.

“Lightweight.” Mark whispered, and Jinyoung rolled his eyes and dragged him off to where Bambam was grinding against a floor lamp.

* * *

Two minutes to midnight and they’re huddled on Marks balcony, breath frosting in the subzero temperatures. At least their drinks will stay cold, Mark thought ruefully, as he took a sip of his soju. Bodies were pressed together in an attempt to share warmth and make the most of the tiny space. Mark’s apartment had the best view, which was sort of the reason why they’d picked his place to celebrate New Years, if the life of good quality, low cost alcohol wasn’t enough. There was a thrum of excitement in the air as the newscaster’s voice from the tv counted down behind them, echoed loudly by Jackson and the rest of their small crowd. Jinyoung had his arms around Mark’s waist leaning into him, but he was talking quietly to Youngjae. One minute to, Mark set down his drink and nudged his best friend’s shoulder. Youngjae noticed and broke off the conversation, apologising and running to Yugyeom’s and Bambam’s side of the balcony, which was considerably rowdier.

Jinyoung smiled slyly, leaning in closer to Marks face. “Ready to ring in the new year with a bang?” Clouds of mist from Jinyoungs mouth fanned across Mark’s lips, and a shudder ran through him. Jinyoung’s eyes were crinkled at the corners with the force of his smile, and for the first time all afternoon it wasn’t strained or hazy with alcohol. His eyes were clear and focused, with an intensity that he usually only directed towards his fellow members of the student council or difficult assignments. It was look that meant action, determination, a mind made up.

_“10, 9, 8.”_

Jinyoung moved a step closer. Their bodies were pressed as close as they could manage, and Mark could feel the lean lines of his chest and legs even through their winter jackets. Jinyoung’s hand moved to the nape of his neck.

_“5, 4”_

Jinyoung bent his neck.

_“3, 2, 1”_

There was a hesitation before he closed the last few centimetres, a sort of double check, 'is this okay?’ Mark closed his eyes.

_“HAPPY NEW YEAR!”_

Sounds of cheering and yelling from behind him, above him, below him. The entire apartment block, city was celebrating. Fireworks exploded in the sky above, ignored by Mark who was too preoccupied by the soft lips moving against his, the hand pressed into his hip, the pounding in his chest.

They separated a few moments later when they heard Bambam screech behind them, something about paying up. He looked behind him and saw the grotesque sight of Jackson practically eating Jaebum’s face. He sighed, and Jinyoung giggled, breathless huffs of air. They subsided soon after when he started humming, swaying slightly back and forth. With a jolt in his stomach, Mark realized that Jinyoung may not have been as sober as he looked. He hooked his friend’s arm around his neck and dragged him to the kitchen, setting him down on a stool and forcing two glasses of water down his throat.

Even after sobering up, Jinyoung insisted on getting drunk again. Mark decided to join him because what the hell right? Jinyoung kissed him, and while it may only have been a New Year’s kiss out of obligation, it still set something alight in Mark and he was feeling giddy even without the alcohol. Mark mixed drink after drink, at the behest of his friends, managing to get the recipes right even after five shots of glittery vodka and three bottles of soju and one bottle of beer. The drinks slid easily down his throat, even though they burned going down. Mark looked at Jinyoung by his side and felt the inevitable fluttering in his stomach that had become all too common recently. Not even alcohol could drown it out.

* * *

Mark woke up sometime around noon later that day with a pounding between his ears and a mouth that tasted like ass. It wasn’t surprising considering they’d partied until four last night. Or early morning. whatever. There was a warm weight cuddled to his back, and he turned over to discover Jinyoung clutching him like his life depended on it, snoring softly. Mark was struck by the urge to trace the lines of his face, his nose and his cheekbones and the curve of his lips. Jinyoung sniffled and Mark startled, moving away from him on instinct. Jinyoung didn’t let him go, however.

“Hey,” Jinyoung stared at him sleepily, hair messy and edges softened by the dim light filtering through Mark’s blinds.

“Hey,” Mark answered back, a smile spreading across his face even as a guilty feeling started forming in his stomach. He shouldn’t enjoy this so much, Seeing jinyoung so open and vulnerable.

“Did I do anything last night?”

Mark’s stomach dropped. There was a look on Jinyoung’s face, something that hinted at a deeper knowledge.

“No, thank god.” Mark straight up lied through his teeth, but it was worth it for the look of relief on Jinyoung’s face.

That kiss meant nothing, Mark reminded himself. That kiss didn’t matter, and neither did the one before it. Even though Mark wanted it to. Mean something.

Mark ignored these feelings and pushed the quilt off him, sitting up in bed to slide his feet into his slippers. “Come on Jinyoungie, breakfast.” He twined his fingers with Jinyoung’s briefly before getting up, stepping lightly over the clothes littered all over the floor, a pool of what looked like vomit and empty bottles of alcohol. Not even his room had been spared.

He was walking out of the room when he remembered and shouted, “don’t forget the clean up!”

Mark heard Jinyoung groan and the sound of covers rustling as he buries himself in his bed. He smiled lightly at the sight the other man made burritoed up in blankets, then groaned as he surveyed the chaos of his living room.

* * *

(They didn’t get together until later that year when Mark started dating a co-worker and Jinyoung became intensely jealous. It was a comedic series of events orchestrated by Jackson that led him to confess his real feelings. It was like something out of drama. Jackson never got over his smugness.)

**Author's Note:**

> \- jinyoung the student politician.  
> \- mark the bartender  
> \- Jinyoung still living in student dorms, Mark has his own apartment, rented ofc but still  
> \- youngjae the first year who is Jinyoung's co-worker at the bookstore and follows him around like a duckling  
> \- Jaebum&Jackson, who now share a dorm, are all over each other and insist that they are not dating, stop being a hypocrite Jinyoung.  
> Mark and Jackson shared a room in the international student dorms their first year, until Mark moved out into an apartment in the holidays between first and second year.  
> \- Mark knows Jaebum from his business degree classes.  
> \- Mark knows Jinyoung through meeting him in his first year on the job bar tending. 
> 
> (Int ages)  
> Mark- 21  
> Jinyoung, Jackson, Jaebum- 20  
> Youngjae- 18


End file.
